The More of Us
by Kildo
Summary: Directly following the end of The Last of Us. Lies cant always hide the truth. Especially Joel's. There's no community for immune people, the Fireflies are still looking for a cure, but thats not what Ellie believes. Joel's lies come back to terrorize him, and the people he cares about. Strength in numbers.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first story, and it is continued from the game The Last of Us. If you haven't played/watched the game, it may be confusing.

Ellie looked back over her shoulder at the path they came from. In front of her was a new beginning, somewhere her and Joel could lay low. "C'mon, just a bit more. If we follow this path it should lead up to the entrance." Joel said to her. "Yeah, okay." Ellie replied, barely catching on to what he said.

Her mind was racing. There's more like her, dozens, as Joel described it, immune to the fungal infection that caused the world to collapse. _There's so many, and they just quit looking for a cure?_ It was just one of the many questions Ellie wanted answers to. She stayed on Joel's heels as they found their way to the entrance of the community. It was powered by a nearby hydroelectric dam. Two armed guards patrolled the entrance. One raised his gun; he was tall and scrawny, couldn't put up a fight but could sure run away from one. "Stop right there, what's your business here?" he asked.

Joel slowly raised his arms in the air "I'm Tommy's brother, Joel, this here's Ellie. The other guard, who was more muscular than the one aiming at Joel, spoke into a walkie talkie "There's two people outside the main entrance, ones claiming to be Tommy's brother, Joel, and a little girl, Ellie." "Let 'em in." It was a female voice, probably Maria, Tommy's wife. "They check out." The guard said to the scrawny one. He lowered his gun then proceeded to open the gate letting the two in.

As they entered, warm hugs from Maria greeted them. "Good to see you two made it back alive, any luck with the Fireflies?" "Well sort of, I'll have to fill you and Tommy in on it later." Joel replied. "Hey Ellie, how ya holdin' up?" Maria asked. "Good, I guess, turns out I'm not the only immune one out there." "Where is Tommy anyway?" Joel asked. "He's down at the plant, there was a problem with one of the turbines, he should be back tonight." Maria said. "You two must be starving, follow me, we'll get somethin' in those stomachs while we wait for Tommy to come back." "I don't object" Ellie blatantly announced.

**2 hours later**

Tommy was stopped by one of the guards outside of the gate; the other two that stopped Joel and Ellie were at home with their families, these were the night shift guards. "Henry told me that he stopped your brother today, Maria gave 'em the O.K. They should be with her." said the middle aged guard; he had an average build and a short beard, few gray hairs and starting to bald. "Shit, seriously? Hot damn!" Tommy exclaimed. He made his way to his house, where Maria, Joel, and Ellie sat at a table playing cards. "So a run is cards in order, right?" Ellie asked. "Yeah, but they have to be the same suit." Joel said. "I think she may be getting the hand of it, aren't ya?" Joel stood up as Maria was finishing her sentence. He slowly walked to Tommy, who stood in the doorway of the small cabin, leaning on the frame smiling. Joel embraced Tommy. "Good to see you again baby bro." he said mid hug. "Hell, it's good to know you made it back alive, how are you 'n Ellie doin'?" Tommy asked. "Great." Joel replied. "Yeah they were teaching me how to play Rummy, this shits confusing." Maria laughed at Ellies comment. Joel whispered in Tommy's ear "I'm gonna have to talk to you and Maria later, its about Ell-" "Tomorrow, lets enjoy our night." Tommy interrupted.


	2. Chapter 2

"I lied to her" Joel admitted to Tommy and Maria, fiddling with a playing card he grabbed from the middle of the table, his head down in shame. Ellie was fast asleep in another room.

"What about?" asked Tommy.

"The Fireflies, told her there were more like her. A whole community of immune people and that…that they stopped looking for a cure." Joel replied.

"What? Did something happened at the university?"

"No. Not the university, Saint Mary's Hospital in Salk Lake City. She went under for surgery, to remove the…that fucking thing on her brain that makes her immune. Marlene told me after the surgery, she wouldn't wake up. I had to do something. She's…I didn't want to lose her, not like I lost Sarah.

"I fought for her, got her out of the ER, killed Marlene, and came here." Joel finished.

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Tommy stood up furiously, knocking down the chair behind him. "You sonofa-

""Baby, shush, you might wake her up, please, sit back down." Maria said trying to calm Tommy down. "She doesn't need to know what happened, not yet at least."

Tommy sat back down. "What the hell were you thinking? Your dumbass is going to lead every one of those fuckers here!"

"I was thinking that I couldn't lose someone else again, someone I cared about. It happened with Sarah, then you left, then Tess…" Joel trailed off, he put his hands in his face.

"Tess?" Tommy asked, then gave Maria a weary look. "Brother, look at me. Everything is gonna be fine. Stay here, we have room for 2 more. As long as you like." Tommy patted his older brother's arm, the older brother that's been through so much, and his older brother, who he loved, no matter what happened years ago between them. Joel wiped a tear from his cheek.

**One year later…**

Not much happened that year. Ellie and Joel moved into a new place, small trailer near the towns back wall. The trailer was from an old trailer park a few miles north of the hydro dam. It was the only one not completely destroyed. A small group of men hauled it back. Joel pulled his own weight by helping with shifts, farming, and work on the plant. Ellie met a boy of similar age, Terry, he was like Sam. Joel liked him, probably because he'd always snag him an extra apple during meals. She also learned to swim, and play a guitar.

"Hard to believe it's been a year." Ellie said while eating one night.

Everyone got together 3 times a day to eat in the Mess Hall. Joel, Ellie, and Terry sit together most days, occasionally joined by Tommy, sometime Maria. _Them two are always busy, must be tough runnin an entire town_ Joel thought one day when Tommy had to cut his lunch short when Maria called him through a walkie talkie. Some infected got a guard.

"Yeah, sure is." Joel replied while filling him mouth with peas.

"I wonder if there will ever be a cure, I mean, I know you said they stopped looking for one, but what if…" Ellie trailed off before she took a bite of her beef.

They only have meat for dinner twice a month. Feeding over 25 families with such a small livestock isn't an easy task.

About a week later, a knock came on the door of Joel's trailer. He was sitting on the couch doing a crossword puzzle in a half used puzzle book he found in an RV during of the weekly scavenging routines. "C'mon in in, it's open." He called. Tommy walked in with his rifle, which struck Joel as unsual since Tommy always left it at his house unless he went out.

"We're fucked." Tommy said, he looked scared.

"What?" Joel asked. Curious, he stood up and walked to his brother.

"They want Ellie, the Fireflies, and I know you're sure as hell not gonna giver 'er up."

"Where are they?"

"Outside the gate. They said if we don't hand her over, they'll take her. And we both know what they're capable of."

"No. I'm not letting this happen. We gotta leave." Just as Joel finished his sentence, Ellie walked in. She can tell something is wrong by the look on Joel's face. He looked terrified.

"What's wrong?" She asked hastily.

"Nothing Ellie, don't worry." Tommy answered, just before Joel said they have to leave. Tommy gave him a stern look. "Me and Joel gotta talk, that's all. C'mon Joel." They both walked outside.

"How much time have they gave us to hand her over?" Joel asked.

"24 hours."

"Okay. But how the hell did they know we would be here?"

"Marlene knew I was your brother, knew about the town. She stayed here for a few days with some Fireflies. Never told me where she was headin' though, guess it was Saint Mary's. She probably left some directions here while she was there. More fireflies showed up at the hospital, found the directions, made their way here. But hell, that's just a theory, anything could've happened."

"Yeah, makes sense I guess. What now?" Joel said as they walked closer to the gate

"Say that you aren't here. I haven't talked to them yet. One of the guards told me what was going on." Tommy got to the gate, Joel stayed behind so the Fireflies wouldn't see them. There was a lot of them, 20, 25, Joel couldn't tell. They also had a truck, looked as if it was reinforced. "They aren't here!" Tommy yelled, hoping they would leave.

"Well then, I guess you won't mind if we take a look!"


	3. Chapter 3

The engine of the truck revved as it backed up. Tommy ran after he realized what was about to happen, yelling for everyone to move away from the gate. The truck accelerated into the gate, causing it to collapse, letting the Fireflies in. At that very moment, Joel made a break for his home. Ellie was inside reading an issue of Savage Starlight.

"We gotta go." Joel announced. Before Ellie could say anything in return, Joel handed her her pistol. Joel kept it during the duration of their stay, and only gave it to her for emergencies. This, was an emergency, and she could tell.

"What the fuck is going on, Joel?" She asked.

"Just stay here, if anyone you don't recognize comes in, shoot 'em." Joel grabbed his backpack and guns, and then dashed out. He kept hidden so Fireflies wouldn't see him.

"I hope it's okay that we double check, just to make sure you aren't hiding her from us!" announced the leader of the group, who pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot Jeanette, a mother of 2. The mother of a boy named Terry, who was with her. He knelt beside her , crying. Then got up and charged at the man who killed his mother. The leader put a round in Terry, right in the chest.

"Fucking kids. Hate 'em, but I'm here to get one." He mumbled. Joel hoped to God that Ellie didn't see what was happening, but when he heard shots from behind, and a familiar voice yelling, he knew she did.

"Hey ass hole! Over here!" Ellie yelled while shooting at them. She quickly got back inside before she could get shot herself. One of the shots hit the leader in the hand, rendering him unable to shoot, who hid behind the truck, mending his wound. Joel raised his rifle and looked through the scope, aimed at one of the scared Fireflies, and tightly pulled the trigger, causing the man's brains to shoot out the back of his head.

"Shoot!" Tommy yelled up ahead. Suddenly all the guards opened fire on the Fireflies, who shot back from cover. Whoever was in the truck didn't know their leader was behind it, and drove forward, running people over, people Joel knew and cared about. The leader was now exposed. He crawled for cover and got shot in the foot during the process.

It was a good thirty minutes before most of the Fireflies were killed. After the last one was finished off, Tommy announced that it was O.K. to leave their homes.

"We still got one!" One guard yelled.

"Allow me?" Maria asked to Tommy.

"My pleasure." Tommy replied. Maria went up to the man behind a building who had a wounded hand and foot. There was a shot, but Maria never walked from behind the building.

"Maria!?" Tommy yelled. He went over to the building and collapsed. Joel ran over and quickly shot the man, who passed out from blood loss, and saw Maria, lifeless on the ground. Tommy was on his knees over her body.

"Tommy, I-"

"Shut the hell up" Tommy interrupted "Go."

"What?"

"I don't want to ever see your goddamn face again. And this time, I mean it."


	4. Chapter 4

"They fucking shot him!" Ellie, sitting on the floor, exclaimed to Joel as he walked in.

"Yeah…yeah." Joel mumbled, hardly able to stand up, using the counter in the kitchen for support. He pulled a barstool out and sat down.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ellie asked. "Joel?"

"Huh? Oh..oh yeah. Yeah uh, were leaving." He could barely say it, words coming out quiet and a bit slurred. He focused on Ellie, looking at the small scar on her eyebrow then back to her face. "We gotta go?"

"But, what? We finally started to like it here and now we have to go? Why?" Ellie asked.

"I just. Um, I uh, I don't think its safe here, after what just happened." He lied, again, knowing that his lies would catch up with him. He feared the day, not wanting to explain to her what really happened the night she was going to die, or what just happened not moments ago. It was his fault Maria died, if he didn't bring Ellie here shed be alive, but would the girl that reminded him so much of his daughter?

"What did those guys even want?" Ellie asked, felling terrible about the loss of her friend.

"Just a bunch of assholes trying to take our supplies." Joel lied, for the third time. How many lies is it going to take until it all comes out? He couldn't have her knowing the truth, she'd hate him for it. He stood up and looked down to her. "C'mon, get what can fit in your backpack and were leaving."

"What about Tommy and Maria-"

"Just, go." He interrupted.

After a few minutes of packing, Joel and Ellie were on the road again. Joel made sure they left through the back, there was a small exit used for emergencies, he didn't want Ellie to see the mess me caused. Everything good in Tommy's life had been destroyed, all because of him.

"What now?" Ellie asked.

"I dunno, we find somewhere to bunker down for the night, then get back on foot in the morning." Joel replied

"Okay, what if there's another town, like Tommy's, but safer?"

"I don't know." He said, looking down.

A few hours and a couple clickers later, Ellie spotted an old building just past the tree line, they went to it and found a pretty sturdy cabin. A few boarded up windows and a broken door. No door may cause a problem, but it was just for one night.

One hell filled night for Joel.

**A/N: I am a procrastinator, that's why I don't post much. Ill get the urdge to write something, but I just cant bring myself to do it…**

**Why? Because I'm lazy.**


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